sebinah

I would love advice for a trip itinerary for 2 weeks in May/June 2009. We would like to spend about 4 days in Prague and 4 days in Vienna. We are wondering if then we should spend more time in Austria (the Alps, perhaps) or in the St. Moritz area of Switzerland. We have been to the Berner Oberland (Wengen) area and loved it. Would like to see mountains and do some very moderate hiking. If Austria, where?

We are starting from San Francisco.

bobthenavigator

Yes, Austria for sure. From Vienna drive through the wonderful Wachau valley to the incredible Abbey at Melk. Then, set up a base camp at St. Gilgen on the Wolfgangsee for 3 nites to see the Salzkammergut region and Salzburg---include Hallstatt as a day trip. See the trip report and photo gallery from BettyK on this forum for more details. This is one of my favorite areas of Europe.

seafox

Bob has nailed it - stay in the Salzburg area and see Melk - maybe a hike in Kitzbuehl too. Also, see my recent post for ideas on Prague and Vienna

bettyk

Here's our trip report and photos from our 2007 trip which includes the St. Gilgen area:

2007 Germany & Austria trip report:
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=35079647

Photos:
http://travel.webshots.com/album/561038806XxDcvw

While we did not visit Salzburg or Hallstatt on this trip, you can find photos of Hallstatt in our other Austria albums posted on the webshots website.

galaxygrrl200

Prague is pretty small. I went for 4 days and wish it was 3 days. Make sure there is enough for you to do there for 4 full days.

Cheers,

Beth

seafox

Good point about the number of days in Prague, you will likely find yourself wanting to do a day trip such as Kunta Hora, Terezin or Cesky Krumlov ... keep them in your back pocket as options

RonZ

St Gilgen is a very cute town. We enjoyed our stay at the Park Hotel Billroth.

kid3kat

I stayed in St Gilgen on the advice of bobthenavigator and bettyk in June 2008. I was nervous because it wasn't in any of my tour books. But it ended up being the FAVORITE destination of our 2 week trip through Austria and Germany. Also on their advice we stayed at the Garni Schernthaner and would highly recommend it.

bettyk

kid3kat, so glad that you enjoyed St. Gilgen and the Schernthaner.

I have found that many of the best places AREN'T in the guide books!

bobthenavigator

Terrific !
We just stumbled into there during our 1999 8 week trip with no reservations and stayed 3 nites. The entire village was in native garb the next day for a local dual wedding for 2 brothers. It was a magical day. The next day, Sunday, we hit the annual mini-marathon at Hallstatt. I have some great shots of both--it was the first week of May.

nytraveler

Have you considered Budapes?

IMHO much more interesting than a bunch of mountains - unless you're never been to any - or plan on doing a lot of hiking and outdoor stuff.

(I love the Swiss Alps - but because toe t cute villages, castles and lakes as well as the mountains. But will always take a new city over nature.)

lyb

bookmarking

pja1

Hi,

In addition to the other posts, I'd recommend the Berchtesgaden area of Bavaria, less than a half hour west of Salzburg. We've stayed twice in this area and love Ramsau as a "home base". From here there are many interseting and beautiful places to visit or to take day trips to including:

Salzburg
"Mad" King Ludwig's Neues Schloss (Herrenchiemsee)
Bad Reichenhall
Berchtesgaden
Konigsee
Zell am See

www.berchtesgaden.com

www.ramsau.de

We also have some recent photo's at:

www.worldisround.com/home/pja1/index.html

www.worldisround.com/home/pja1/travel11.html

Hope this helps.

Paul

annhig

hi sebinah,

we are thinking about a trip in this area, and are going in the opposite direction from Vienna - ie north to poland though the tatra mountains of slovakia where i have read there is some great walking.

from there we are hoping to to head over to dresden then back to Prague. [where we're not actually staying having been before, but jsut using it as a cheap place to fly into].

the stretch of the Danube around Melk seems to fall more easily into the trip BETWEEN Prague and Vienna, IMHO.

are you hiring a car or going by train/plane?

regards, ann